Drug smugglers missed out on a pretty large haul after their cocaine shipment was mistakenly shipped to several supermarkets in the Czech Republic instead of making its way to Germany to be picked up. Police found the haul, which is said to have had a street value of $83 million, after workers at one of the supermarkets found blocks of cocaine inside crates full of bananas.
1/3 Lisované kostky kokainu, v krabicích od banánů, nalezli dnes odpoledne pracovníci supermarketu v JiÄínÄ a RychnovÄ nad KnÄžnou. Kriminalisté zjistili, že zboží stejné šarže bylo distribuováno na nÄkolik dalších míst v ÄR. pic.twitter.com/V3e7p8hOYu
— Policie ÄR (@PolicieCZ) June 10, 2022
- The drugs entered the country through Hamburg. The shipment left Columbia and made the long journey to Europe but was routed via Hamburg to the Czech Republic rather than to its intended recipients. Supermarket employees in Prague, Jicin and Rychnov nad KnÄžnou all found the packages and contacted the police immediately.Czech police announced the find on Twitter on Friday, June 10. They said in a statement: “Supermarket workers found molded cocaine cubes in boxes with bananas this afternoon.”Criminal investigators found that goods of the same batch were distributed to several other places in the Czech Republic. Therefore, in cooperation with the [Customs Administration of the Czech Republic] and other entities, it is currently conducting inspections of these places and other actions.”
- Police in the country are now working with international authorities. A statement read: “Information about consignments is kept outside the territory of the Czech Republic, for this reason we will use the institute of international police and judicial cooperation. The case was taken over by the National Drug Control Center, which will conduct the investigation. We will provide more information as soon as possible.”
- Cocaine production is said to have “reached record levels.” According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime: “The output of global cocaine manufacture doubled between 2014 and 2019 to reach an estimated 1,784 tons (expressed at 100 percent purity) in 2019, the highest level ever recorded.”
2/3 Proto, v souÄinnosti s @Celnispravacr a dalšími subjekty, provádí v tuto chvíli prohlídky tÄchto míst a další úkony.
Informace o zásilkách vedou mimo území ÄR, z toho důvodu využijeme institut mezinárodní policejní a justiÄní spolupráce. pic.twitter.com/UFBqCyBY4P— Policie ÄR (@PolicieCZ) June 10, 2022